Spotlight On... Russell Stewart

Russell Stewart's voice is like butter, the really good kind that enhances the flavour of everything it's spread on. Stewart first came to our attention when we heard his bouncy single Citrus played out on BBC Introducing in Scotland, and it made us do that face. You know the one. Since then, we had him masterfully open our stage takeover at the Kelburn Garden Party back in July, and over the past few months he's been teasing us with singles from his forthcoming debut EP, Into View, due tomorrow (18 Nov).

You Move Me, a single about unrequited love, is the EP's fourth and final single. Officially out tomorrow, to coincide with the full release of the EP and subsequent launch party at Glasgow's King Tut's, we're delighted to bring you an early first listen via the below SoundCloud player (click here if it's not displaying correctly). What's more, to tell us more about the single, as well as all of the other songs found on Into View, Stewart himself talks us through the EP track by track.

Align
The EP starts with Align, which is a real nought to 100 kind of song. It’s about trying to make the start of a relationship work, but eventually realising you don’t line up with the other person and it’s not worth the struggle. I started working on it last year with Stuart Ramage and Roan Ballantine, aka Vanives, who produced the whole EP. We spent a lot of time on Align over lockdowns so it’s the most complex track, with all the synths and wild sound effects making it go from an intimate start to electronic chaos.

You Move Me
You Move Me is the second track, and the final one to come out with the full release. It’s a mellow one about unrequited love – I wrote the chorus a long time ago and spent years trying to write a song around it. It was a relief when it finally clicked after rewriting it, not liking it and starting again, over and over. People always seem to vibe with You Move Me too when I play it live, probably because it’s a bittersweet feeling many relate to.

Sleeplessness
Sleeplessness is next and I’m really proud of how this one turned out. I’ve had insomnia for as long as I can remember and always wanted to write a song to channel all the negativity I hold towards sleep because of it. I wrote Sleeplessness with Amelia Sinclair Kidd last year, who you’ll know from The Ninth Wave, and she really brought the bones of the idea I’d been sitting on to life. I’m glad I got to show off this darker side to my music that I’ve not really shown much of before, and that people liked it.

Inward
I wanted the last song to be uplifting, so we went back to a demo I made with Stuart and Roan a few years ago, which became Inward. I’d gone to a festival while at a low point and the live music and sense of community in the scene gave me a real lift but in an overwhelming way. They saw me in a bit of an emotional state at the fest, so we wrote about it later. The name Into View is a line from Inward’s chorus, with a nod to finally seeing my first full release come together.

I wanted my debut EP to be a bit of an emotional and sonic rollercoaster. The four tracks come from different corners of my writing, and my ‘alt soul’ sound, with the production really pulling them together while letting their extremes flourish. Making it with Stuart and Roan was an absolute blast and the tracks are just beyond what I imagined they could be.

What’s next? Hibernation! I’ll still have Into View bits to share after the release and launch show but yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to some chill down time at the end of the year. Then I’ve got a couple of cool things in the pipeline for 2023, but mainly I want to get back out and gig with the new stuff as much as I can.

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Into View is released on Friday 18 Nov; to launch the EP, catch Russell Stewart at King Tut's, Glasgow, 18 Nov

linktr.ee/russellstewart